Treatment Modalities

Some newly diagnosed cancer patients may require a multi-modality approach composed of chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy and in some situations, innovative treatments that have been established through extensive medical research. The SOC participates in international clinical trials and when appropriate, patients may be treated with therapy that is under investigation through these trials.

Working with an ecosystem comprising top medical professionals in hospitals across Singapore, SOC will recommend a range of treatment modalities. According to individual needs, preferences and budgetary requirements, patients may receive one or more of the following:

Surgery

Surgery is sometimes the first step in cancer diagnosis. These surgeries include the careful resection of the tumor found in any part of the body according to oncological principles. Subsequent pathological investigation then sets the parameters for subsequent treatment recommendations.

Chemotherapy

Recent advances in chemotherapy have definitely improved treatment outcomes for patients, and minimized side effects such as hair loss, nausea, and vomiting. Chemotherapy is applied via; upfront or induction chemotherapy; concurrent chemoradiation; adjuvant chemotherapy; curative chemotherapy; high dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue; and, palliative chemotherapy.

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy works by damaging the DNA in cancer cells, thereby destroying the cancer cells. The new mode of radiation therapy is to kill enough cancer cells to maximize the probability of cure and minimize the side effects.

Hormonal therapy

The growth of some cancer cells is hormone dependent, such as breast and prostate cancers. When cancer arises in breast or prostate tissue, its growth and spread may be caused by the body hormones. Drugs that block hormone production or the hormone receptors on the cancer cell are some ways of fighting these cancers.

Targeted therapy

Targeted therapy is designed to treat only certain cancer cells with particular signals, thus minimizing damage to normal, healthy cells. Drug types such as monoclonal antibodies, angiogenesis inhibitors, apoptosis-inducing drugs and signal blocker small-molecule drugs are all regularly deployed in SOC’s practice.

It is increasingly common to use several treatment modalities together – or in sequence – with the goal of cure.